Kabah A Day Trip Out Of Hotel Dolores Alba, Merida

Kabah Travel Blog

Kabah "strong hand" (also spelled Kabaah, Kabáh, Kahbah and Kaba)is a
Puuc Maya site on Highway 261, about 90 miles southwest of Mérida in
Yucatan State. Ruins extend for a considerable distance on both sides
of the highway. Most of the more distant structures are little visited,
and some are still overgrown with forest. An alternative name is
Kabahaucan or "royal snake in the hand". Kabah is 12 miles south of
Uxmal and is connected by a sacbe to that city. This sacbe is a grand
example at 12 miles long, 16 feet wide, at places more than 20 feet
thick, with a monumental arches at both ends. Kabah is the second
largest ruin of the Puuc region after Uxmal. Kabah was first occupied
prior to 200 BC.

Kabah

Most of the visible architecture was built between the
600 AD to 1000 AD. The "Palace of the Masks" and the monumental arch
are the must see structures. A sculpted date on a doorjamb of one of
the buildings gives the date 879, another inscribed date is one of the
latest carved in the Maya Classic style, in 987. Kabah was abandoned or
at least no new ceremonial architecture built for several centuries
before the Spanish conquest of Yucatán.

The most famous structure at Kabah is the "Palace of the Masks", the
façade decorated with hundreds of stone masks of the long-nosed rain
god Chaac; it is also known as the Codz Poop, meaning "Rolled Matting".
It is thought that the checkered pattern mosaic on the facade of this
structure depicts the pattern of a woven mat.

Kabah

Masks of the rain god "Chaac" appear on almost every structure at
Kabah. Copal incense has been discovered in the noses of some of the
Chaac sculptures. The emphasis placed on Chaac, the "Protector of the
Harvest", both here and at other neighboring Puuc sites, stemmed from
the scarcity of water in the region. There are no cenotes in this
dryer, northern part of the Yucatan, so the Maya here had to depend
solely on rain.

Kabah has numerous other structures that includes plazas, palaces,
pyramid platform temples, a ballcourt. Most of these structure are of
pure Puuc Maya architectural style. A few show Chenes elements. It is
thought that Kabah may be a transition city for these two architectural
styles. Originally this site had numerous carved architectural
components; panels, lintels, and doorjambs. However, the majority of
these carved components have been removed and placed in museums. The
sculptures mostly depicted noblemen/rulers and scenes of warfare.

The first professional account of Kabah was published by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood in 1843.